Flutter By Butterfly

My friend Heidi gave Blythe a butterfly garden for Christmas (Thanks Heidi!).  You have to order the butterflies to be sent to you through the mail, and Blythe has been desperate for us to do that.  It has to be a certain temperature outside before you order them, so that when you release them, they won't freeze to death.  Before we took our trip to Indiana and Chicago, Blythe begged and begged me to order them, but we needed to be home to get them.

I finally got around to ordering them a couple of weeks ago, and I did it without telling Blythe so that it would be a surprise when they arrived.  They came and Blythe was absolutely thrilled.  We set the little cup of caterpillars on the counter and watched them do their thing.  It didn't take more than about four days for them to begin forming chrysalides on the lid of the container they came in, and that was amazing to watch.  Then this week, they emerged.  The whole process has been cool to watch.

Today we released the butterflies into the world so they can live, to quote the Kratt Brothers, "free and in the wild."  It was delightful to see them take flight and think we have been good caterpillar/butterfly caretakers.  We may order some more.

Caterpillars on the counter

Hatched.

The left over chrysalides are hanging on the side of the container.